The phone hasn’t stopped ringing at Allen and Violet Large’s Nova Scotia home over news the “plain, old country folks” gave away almost $11.2 million.

Violet and Allen Large had everything they ever wanted and thought they would ever need. When the modest retired couple from rural Nova Scotia won a lotto jackpot worth more than $11 million this summer they started making a list of charities and community groups that could use the money.

They had two pages by the time they finished; at the top were the hospitals in Truro and Halifax where Violet, 78, has been treated for ovarian cancer since the spring.

“That money that we won was nothing,” Allen, 75, told the Halifax Chronicle-Herald, choking back tears. “We have each other.”

The Larges’ generosity — they gave away all but two per cent of their $11,255,272 winnings — has garnered international media attention as a heartwarming story amidst a sea of bad news.

“We’re not used to all this attention,” Allen told the Canadian Press. “We’re just plain, old country folks.”

After the hospitals, the Larges also donated undisclosed amounts of money to their local fire departments, churches, cemeteries, the Red Cross, Salvation Army and a number of organizations that fight cancer, Alzheimer’s and diabetes.

They gave some money to family and kept about $200,000 “for a rainy day.”

“People who know them just know that’s the type of people they are. They’re just happy to have each other,” said Lori Hingley, owner of the Shillelagh House family restaurant in Lower Truro, where the Larges live.

“They didn’t want for anything,” said Violet’s brother, Elson Perry, who lives in nearby Bible Hill. “They had their lifestyle set. They’re not ones to splurge. They hardly ever buy anything for themselves.”

Most importantly, they’re doing what they want to do with the money, Perry said.

On July 14, the day the Larges bought their winning Lotto 6/49 draw ticket, Violet was in between chemotherapy treatments.

“We won 10 bucks,” she exclaimed to her husband the next morning, matching the ticket’s first three numbers with the winning digits in the local newspaper. When the other three numbers also matched, she couldn’t believe her eyes.

“She was dumbfounded,” her brother said, adding that she called not only her husband but family and friends to double-check the numbers.

They kept quiet over the next week, planning out their beneficiaries before claiming their winnings from Atlantic Lottery.

“We were quite happy with what we had and the way we were going,” Allen said, explaining the decision to give the money away.

“What you’ve never had, you never miss,” Violet added.

Both originally from small towns in rural Nova Scotia, the couple spent about 30 years working in Ontario. Violet’s brother said they lived a number of years in Toronto, where Allen was a steel welder and Violet worked in cosmetics.

Married since 1974, the couple has no children together, but Allen has two daughters from a previous marriage.

The Larges retired home to Nova Scotia in 1983 and moved into a small 19th century house in Lower Truro.

“Not millionaires, but comfortable,” is how Allen described their retirement, after carefully setting aside a little bit of money every year.

Last week Violet finished her last chemotherapy treatment. She is weak, her brother said, but she remains as active as possible.

Watching his partner’s health deteriorate has been difficult, Allen told the Chronicle-Herald, so they have been cherishing each other’s company.

“All the money in the world can’t buy your health,” he said.

According to other Lower Truro residents, the Larges plan to keep buying two lottery tickets a week — as they always have — hoping for an unlikely second stroke of luck.

Why, after winning so much, would they keep trying for more?

“Somebody else could probably use it.”

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